The World Above
by Val-Creative
Summary: Mermaids do not exist. It's supposed to remain that way, for an eternity if not longer — exposure to their realm, to Sara's family and friends, would allow great upheaval and tragedy, war, loss. Human cannot be trusted with the truth, even if that is obviously within their reaches. /Fairytale AU. Modern AU. Saramila. Milasara. Oneshot.


**.**

 **.**

Mermaids do not exist.

It's supposed to remain that way, for an eternity if not longer — _exposure_ to their realm, to Sara's family and friends, would allow great upheaval and tragedy, war, loss. Human cannot be _trusted_ with the truth, even if that is obviously within their reaches.

Sara may be young, but she's no fledgling. And her opinions will not be treated as such.

" _The only thing land-creatures know how to do is to destroy, Sara!_ "

Michele believes he has reason to be furious with her, often swimming wildly in circles or gesturing boldly, his violet-tinged gills flaring. Both Sara and her brother came into this world at the same time, with fins and tails the same stunning color as their eyes. Sara still thinks her scales glittery and lighter, becoming iridescent in moon's enchanting rays.

" _Were we not told that Oannes himself came to men, of his volition?_ " she remembers arguing this, voice gaining strength, her brow furrowing. " _He taught them knowledge and reason—_ "

Michele's own brow furrows. His massive tail flings behind him.

" _That they have thrown away carelessly!_ " he shouts. Little, clear bubbles erupt between Michele's rosy-brown lips. " _Men-creatures do not care about Oannes, sister-mine. And neither do I._ "

After this, she needed to get away. For just a short amount of time.

Sara hurries and swims herself towards the northern tropical waters, in the region of the capes and less occupied coasts with its hot, sun-bleached white boulders and grains of sand. She bathes in the mid-day's sun occasionally. Her skin and violet-hued webbing between Sara's fingers dries out.

There's reverberations in the shimmering blue-green waters above her.

Sara glances up towards the blinding quality of morning-light, as a small, dark object tumbles in front of her.

She catches it in her opened palms with little effort, shocked by how _dense_ and thin and smooth it is. This is no natural ocean rock — however, it's black and shiny as volcanic obsidian. This… _this_ is one of the human objects, isn't it?

Sara recognizes how it glows so brilliantly and the shape of the front with numeric markings.

Humans have lost their — _mobiles_ — to the sea plenty of times, enough that Sara and her people have been familiarized with their presence, while traveling closer to beaches and shorelines. Mostly these objects are broken or cracked, abandoned, or stop working after being exposed to the pressure underneath the waves and far, far away from their civilization.

Once or twice, she's been able to fiddle with a more water-proof mobile, exploring its contents and finding captured likenesses of humans and their kind under **PHOTOS**. Some of them even animated themselves. When Sara discovered they couldn't hear her within, she had been…

 _Upset_.

(Would humanity ever know the truth?)

This human relic is not hers to keep, as it is clearly working and not damaged.

Sara twitches her silky, violet fins and heads upwards, rising up to the ocean's warm, choppy surface.

In the distance, Sara knows there's a — _beach resort_ — on Capo Rizzuto, where loads of humans visit the marine wildlife and local reserve, screeching and waving to each other, traveling their motorized ships to glimpse the seabed below, but without disturbing anything.

"Hey!"

Atop a wooden, floating deck, a tall human woman calls out to her, motioning her over. She has a pair of pale legs, revealed underneath her summery, floral dress. She's so unlike Sara with her bare chest — as most of her kin feels no shame or desire to cover themselves.

Sara bobs, neck-deep in the water, giving herself a moment to calm her heart, This woman is _enchanting_ as moon's light, with curls of scarlet hair blowing around deeply flushed cheeks.

Taking it slow and cautious, she greets the woman by the deck's edge, leaning herself over. "Is this yours?" Sara asks politely, holding out the dripping, buzzing mobile.

Immediate relief clouds her expression. "Oh _jesus christ_! I thought it was gone forever. Thank you." The woman nods and grabs for it, examining her device. "It still works?"

"It appears so."

Blue eyes narrow down at Sara, but without any mocking intention. "Um… Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but I thought they told us nobody was allowed to swim around here…?

Sara wrings out her wet hair and folds her arms on the deck, hunching herself down.

"I'm not from around here," she points out.

"Same." The woman flashes her a smile — her teeth _shiny_ as little sea-pearls. " _Russian_ , if you couldn't tell by the accent. Where are you from then?"

"I… spend a lot of time in the water."

"Be careful. You might grown fins."

Sara already senses the joking nature, but she arches up her slender and powerful tail, its violet-color shimmery. "Like these?" Sara teases in return, grinning.

The woman snaps her fingers repeatedly, as if suddenly excited. "Oh! Oh, you're one of those—"

Oh g _oodness be_! Sara holds her breath, eyes widening. Do humans truly understand?

"Yes—"

"— _professional actresses_!" Pride and astonishment sinks away, heat drowning out in Sara's chest. "You know, the ones who put on the realistic-looking mermaid tail and get photographed!"

"No," Sara says curtly, frowning.

"No?"

She presents out one of her arms, like she did with the mobile. Spreading apart her long, driftwood-brown fingers, exposing the fragile, almost translucent webbing. "This is real."

As if it's an invitation, the woman kneels down and holds onto Sara's hand with both of hers. Pale fingertips strok gently over the sensitive, glimmery-violet membrane.

" _Feels_ real, I guess… what's your name?"

"Sara."

"I'm Mila." Sara blinks curiously, as Mila's teeth visibly drag over her bottom lip. "Do you wanna… get out of here?" she whispers to Sara, her hands continuing to grasp her. "I'm only here with my friends on vacation during my off-season, but I heard there's a pretty wild bonfire tonight—"

"—I would like that," Sara tells her, features tightening. "But I'm not able to leave."

This doesn't appear to deter Mila, and she only grins mischievously.

"Because of the _fins_ , right?" After a long, purposeful pause, Mila's grin fades. "Wow, you're being absolutely serious," she says, dismayed.

Sara's chest grows colder, more empty. Maybe humans _weren't_ ready.

(Has she made a terrible mistake?)

Even so, Sara can't find it in her heart to regret any of this. Meeting and speaking with her first human. _Loving_ so with abandonment and tenderness, and renewal of hope flooding her emotions.

"Think of me fondly, Mila. Please."

Hers and Mila's fingers squeeze together, as they separate. Mila's eyes lower, when Sara unfolds her arms, backing away. "

… Am I gonna see you again?" she murmurs, disappointment weighing her down.

 _Maybe._

Sara exhales shakily, and then dives back into the ocean's warm waters, vanishing quickly.

 **.**

 **.**

Her aunties hardly notice Sara's absence, preoccupied with their brand new fledglings. However, Michele whines and fusses, until Sara rolls her eyes and kisses his cheeks, accepting a snuggly, protective hug.

It's been two sun-rises since Mila. Sara gives into the impulse to return the wooden, floating deck, and to her confusion and melancholy, there's no one waiting for her — but there _is_ a sun-bleach colored mobile.

Sara gently picks it up, familiarizing herself with its shape and the buttons, unlocking it.

A message?

 **Mila** ❤

 _this one's yours :P_

 _solar powered battery. charge it. text me or call me whenever you wanna  
_

 _mermaids can text, right?  
_

 _July 19 12:01_

Laughter bubbles out of Sara's mouth, as she claps a hand over her face and submerges herself underwater to twirl happily. The mobile appears to be completely water-proof — Sara notices its glow-light never wavers.

Oh goodness be… _maybe_ humans can be trusted, after all.

 **Sara** ❤

 _of course we can_

 _;)  
_

 _July 19 14:13_

 **.**

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* * *

 _Yuri on Ice isn't mine. I was participating in the Rareships on Ice 2017 on Tumblr, but missed the deadline due to an emergency, so I got switched out. That's okay! I still wanted to give the person I was assigned their gift from me, so I'm showcasing it here too! This also fits under YOI Rarepair Monthly for "pictures" under the July prompts so I hope everyone had fun reading and any thoughts/comments are very much appreciated thank you! Mermaid mythology was fun to research._


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